Chile

Chile:

A Breath of Fresh Air:

(19 November – 14 December 2009)

Our border crossing into Chile went easier than any so far. Even the pets went fast. Our first few days were spent in a campground north of Arica. Arica is a beautiful town in the desert, along the coast in northern Chile (Figure 1). We spent most of two days trying to find a place to issue the “Seguros Obligatorios” that is required. However, the first day we find all insurance offices are closed for a special holiday (“Dia del Seguros”). Then we can not find anyone who issues the vehicle insurance.

Figure 1. Street scene in Arica.

We spend the next two days driving south. We camp at a nice beach the first night (Figures 2 & 3), then a river in the desert (Figures 4 & 5). We observe some interesting wildlife (Figure 6). On the way there are several areas with ancient rock drawings or geoglyphs (Figures 7 & 8).

Figure 2. Camp at Caleta Camarones south of Arica.

Figure 3. Beach at Caleta Camarones south of Arica.

Figure 4. Camp at Rio Loa, a desert river valley.

Figure 5. Rio Loa, a desert river valley.

Figure 6. Lizard at the river camp.















Figure 7. Geoglyphs of guanacos and other animals.

Figure 8. Geoglyphs of sunburst and human.

We drive on south through the driest desert in the World, the Atacama Desert (Figure 9), and continue past the Tropic of Capricorn (Figure 10). We spend the night at Antofagasto a rather large city on the coast in northern Chile (Figure 11).

Figure 9. The Panamerican Highway in the Atacama Desert.

Figure 10. Tropic Capricorn on the Panamerican Highway just north of Antofagasta.














Figure 11. The beach at Antofagasta.

Our trip takes us through some fantastic desert in spring bloom, after all it is late November in the Southern Hemisphere (Figures 12 -15). We spend a couple of days relaxing in a resort just north of a small town called Tal Tal (Figure 16).

Figure 12. Wildflowers north of Tal Tal.














Figure 13. Copulating beetles in the desert north of Tal Tal. The spring bloom is not just for flowers.

Figure 14. Wildflower in desert north of Tal Tal.















Figure 15. More wildflowers.

Figure 16. View of the bay at Cabañas Hueso, Tal Tal, where we spent two nights.

As we travel south, the desert slowly gives way to desert scrub (Figure 17), then to chaparral (Figure 18) as we approach Santiago (Figure 19). It reminds me of California.

Figure 17. Desert Scrub between Tal Tal and Serrano.

Figure 18. Chaparral north of Santiago.














Figure 19. Panamerican Highway north of Santiago.

We spend no time in Santiago. Instead, we head south to the wine country of the Colchagua Valley near the town of Santa Cruz. We take a room for three nights in a small boutique Hotel Entre Viñas. It is a converted old hacienda, dating from the late 1800’s (Figure 20 & 21). The breakfasts were fantastic.

Figure 20. Hotel Entre Viñas at breakfast.

Figure 21. The grounds at Hotel Entre Viñas.

Our first day near Santa Cruz we visit the Vu Manent winery (Figure 22). We have lunch in their restaurant (Figures 23 & 24). The wines are good, but the Malbec is their prize (Figure 25). I liked the “Secrete” blend (Figure 26). It is 85% Malbec and 15% a secrete. It is very good.

Figure 22. Viña Viu Manent entrance to tasting and restaurant.

Figure 23. Lunch at Viña Viu Manent.


















Figure 24. Of course, wine with lunch at Viña Viu Manent.

Figure 25. Tasting the Malbec at Viu Manent.














Figure 26. Other wines are also good. This one is a “secrete” blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, and Malbec.

Over the next two days (29/30 November 2009) we visit several other wineries. The one we liked the best was a relatively new viña called Viña Mont Gras. We loved all of their wines (Figure 27). We tried each of their wines, and liked the Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend the best (Figures 28 - 30). We bought a bottle of each (Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend, Malbec, Carmenere, and Cabernet Sauvignon). A few days is just not enough. We will return to the wine regions of Chile.

Figure 27. Viña Mont Gras.

Figure 28. John tasting at Viña Mont Gras.














Figure 29. Tasting at Viña Mont Gras (Sharon, Karla, and host).

Figure 30. Karla and Sharon in the Viña Mont Gras sales room.

We continue south to the Lake Region in southern Chile. Gary and I want to try the trout fishing. We visit several nation parks, and I get to see my first southern beech trees (Nothofagus sp.). There are several species (Figure 31 & 32). We also see a variety of birds (Figures 33 & 34). We have several camps, but one we enjoy is at the headwaters of the Rio Bio Bio (Figure 35 & 36). We try our luck fishing, but do not even get a hit.

Figure 31. Southern beech with volcano in background on the way to Curacautín.

Figure 32. Southern beech at Los Troncas.


















Figure 33. Chimango Cara Cara in our camp at Campground Los Raudales.

Figure 34. Black Faced Ibis near our camp at Ecoparque Lemucura.














Figure 35. Sunset at our camp on Rio Bio Bio.

Figure 36. Gary setting camp on Rio Bio Bio.














We move on to Parque Nacional Congillio where there are beautiful forests of southern beech and araucaria (sometimes called monkey puzzle tree). These are quite primeval looking (Figures 37 & 38). We have a nice camp in the park very close to Lago Conguillio (Figure 39). The views are spectacular (Figures 40 – 42). We do have some luck fishing, but it is nothing to show (see us in Argentina on the next blog posting).

Figure 37. Araucaria Forest in Parque Nacional Conguillio.

Figure 38. Southern beech in Parque Nacional Congillio.


















Figure 39. Ewok in our camp at Congillio.

Figure 40. View of Laguna Conguillio and surrounding Andes mountains.














Figure 41. Lava field and Volcano Lliama in P. N. Conguillio.

Figure 42. Active Volcano Lliama.














We split from Gary and Karla to travel our own route for a couple of weeks. We plan to meet again in Argentina. We drive on to Puerto Varas to camp at Playa Niklitschek (Figure 43 & 44). We spend a couple of days exploring the area and other national parks. When we leave to head toward the Argentine border, I stop to fish and have a bit better luck (Figure 45).

Figure 43. Camp at Playa Niklitsheck on Lago Llanquihue with Sharon and Ewok.

Figure 44. View of Volcano Osorno from Playa Niklitsheck.














Figure 45. John with 14” rainbow trout from Lago Llanquihue.

As we leave Lago Llanquihue, we have a blow out on the left rear tire. I change the tire. The spare is a small emergency tire. We have to go to Osorno to see about getting a new tire. Of course it is Saturday afternoon, and all regular businesses are closed. We do find a used tire place that has a tire that fits. However, it is not the exact size (245/65R17, while our's are 255/60R17). It will have to do until Monday when we can try to get a correct size tire. Now the decision is whether to drive on to Argentina or stay near Osorno until Monday. We think the chances are better that we will get two correct size tires in Argentina. We need two since they have to be very close to the same size and ours have been wearing for over 20,000 km. In hind sight, that was a big mistake (see our next blog on Argentina).

Chile (3310 miles recorded) was a pleasant return to normalcy after Peru.